All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

For you seasoned flippers, what are the major items to consider when investing in a home that had a major interior fire, where the structure is still standing? Is this an investment where paying land value is the target purchase price due to the level of interior work? Thanks in advance everyone!

In the past I've used a few of the online auction sites for purchasing homes for clients, but they all have their unique twists. Recently I've seen another one being used, and I'm curious if anyone has had any experience with Excelleras? If so, how did the transaction go? Was there any hidden costs that you weren't aware of up front when submitting bids? Other than a technology fee and paying the commission fees, are there any direct costs to the buyer? Any help or feedback would be appreciated. Thanks!

For those of you who know Stockton, CA, I'm considering purchasing rentals in a safe but profitable area of Stockton. I want to stay away from areas where bars are necessary on the windows, and drugs and violent crime are high. What areas would you recommend staying out of? If you have a mapped image you can attach, that would be great too. Thanks in advance for any advice!

May Almario Mendoza I'm not clear on whether or not BP wants us to list companies here but if you PM me I will give you a name of a good one here in the CV. Not 100% if they cover Merced but they are worth giving a call.

Mindy Jensen what would need to happen to get a Modesto/Merced forum listed? Is that possible?

Alec Partin I cannot say specifically how they operate, because they are a bit of an odd entity, but to ensure you don't lose the home, you may want to just sign the contract as is. They really don't do any adjustments in their contract. As for your lender, this should be something you can work on as you're moving through the closing process. In the first 48 hours, the only thing they wanted in our case was a signed contract. After that they will either accept or move on to another offer. If they have other offers in the wind or you were bidding against someone, it is quite possible they will just move on to the next buyer. If they accept your offer and contract then they will assign someone to your transaction. From that point is is a lot like an REO, except they don't do any negotiating. Everything, and I do mean everything is on you, so I hope you have a realtor representing you. You're paying the commission one way or the other, along with your premium. As for the lender, not all will allow the premium to be rolled into the loan. Keep in mind, it still has to appraise for the full amount in order to get the premium covered. Not sure if that answers the question, but I hope it helps.

@Jared Rine some of your feedback hit the nail on the head. If you aren't flush with cash then you're left with financing through HMLs if you want your offer to look desirable. However, in order to win you have to be willing to shrink your margins here, and that's where dealing with HMLs becomes less appealing because of the added costs. I will admit that there are still plenty of opportunities that arise here, but there is also a lot of competition. Recently I helped a client secure a REI property, but when the deal was all said and done, he cut his margin from a potential $40K profit to $20K during the bidding process in order to secure the home. In my opinion, and I'm sure in many others, that is still a respectable margin. Truthfully, I'm still very optimistic about this area. I am interested and appreciative to hear other's perspectives on this, so thanks for your response.

Thanks Lee S. ! I'm reading J Scott's book on estimating rehab costs right now in hopes that I can make some semi-accurate estimates on my own. Do you know where HMLs stand on quotes not performed by a contractor?

Aaron McGinnis so do you have a suggestion, like what is a reasonable price? As stated, I get that time is money.

I contacted a few contractors in my area to have them give me a ballpark estimate on a few potential investment properties so I could run the numbers. Unfortunately, each of them wanted some fee in order to give me a ballpark figure. Time is money and I can respect that. I explained my plan was that if the numbers worked out and I was able to get the home, then I would agree to giving them the first opportunity to bid the home, and I would definitely pay for the time it took to write up a rehab estimate to submit to the lender. It didn't seem as though that was an interesting proposition, because I couldn't get anyone to agree to that. If I only end up getting 1 of 10 houses that I try for, the cost of a ballpark fee will start to add up. Does anyone have any suggestions? Should I just pay a fee, and if so, what do you pay? Or, does anyone know a good contractor in the area that is Fix and Flip friendly, and doesn't charge a fee? Thanks!